2024 Emmy Predictions: Best Music for a Series
This year, for only the second time in Emmys history, a whopping seven programs are involved in the Best Music for a Series competition. Despite the abundance of possible outcomes, a strong consensus has grown around the idea of the lineup’s sole former winner, Atticus Ross (Best Music for a Limited Series, “Watchmen”), sharing in a victory for “Shōgun” with general first-timers Leopold Ross and Nick Chuba.
As was the case in 2018 and 2022, five different networks are represented in the current Best Music for a Series contest. Apple TV+ (the home of 2022 winner “Severance”) boasts an impressive three entries while FX, Hulu, Netflix, and Prime Video each have one.
In order to determine the likeliest result of this crowded race, let’s take a closer look at each nominee. Be sure to make your predictions in this and 30 other Creative Arts Emmy categories by September 7.
“The Crown” – Composer: Martin Phipps
Episode: “Sleep, Dearie Sleep”
Phipps is now credited with earning “The Crown” its last three of four score notices, with the first having gone to the show’s original composer, Rupert Gregson-Williams, in 2017. His eighth general Emmy nomination comes for his work in the Netflix drama’s series finale, during which a nearly 80-year-old Queen Elizabeth II (Imelda Staunton) experiences a personal crisis as her heir’s second wedding draws near.
“Mr. & Mrs. Smith” – Composer: David Fleming
Episode: “First Date”
In the first episode of this new series loosely based on the 2005 film of the same name, spies using the aliases John and Jane Smith (Donald Glover and Maya Erskine) begin to bond as they get used to living their lives and carrying out missions as a fake married couple. Fleming, whose previous credits include “Blue Planet” and “The Last of Us,” is simultaneously nominated for writing the music for the documentary special “Jim Henson Idea Man.”
“Only Murders in the Building” – Composer: Siddhartha Khosla
Episode: “Sitzprobe”
Former “This Is Us” composer Khosla is now involved in his first rematch with Phipps three years after losing alongside him to Ludwig Göransson (“The Mandalorian”). His chosen episode in which a stage musical’s cast and crew rehearse while being interrogated in regards to a murder is also up for Best Music and Lyrics, making it the third single installment of a continuing series to ever receive score and song bids, after “Road to the North Pole” (“Family Guy,” 2011) and “Schmigadoon!” (“Schmigadoon!,” 2022).
“Palm Royale” – Composer: Jeff Toyne
Episode: “Maxine Saves a Cat”
A full quarter century into his career, Toyne is a dual first-time Emmy nominee in this category and Best Main Title Theme Music. In the second episode of his new comedy series, secretive 1960s social climber Maxine Dellacorte-Simmons (Kristen Wiig) sets out to obtain adequate sponsorship for entry into the titular club.
“Shōgun” – Composers: Atticus Ross, Leopold Ross, and Nick Chuba
Episode: “Servants of Two Masters”
The Ross brothers and Chuba, who all share in an additional title theme bid for this program, have already outperformed the completely overlooked musicians behind the original 1980 “Shōgun” miniseries. In the second episode of their version’s first season, imprisoned English sailor John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis) comes face-to-face with his captor, Japanese Lord Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada), who realizes he can use him as a political pawn.
“Silo” – Composer: Atli Örvarsson
Episode: “Freedom Day”
Örvarsson, who won a BAFTA Award for this same series in May, is a first-time Emmy nominee known primarily for his work on the “FBI” and “Chicago” network TV franchises. The premiere installment of “Silo” introduces a dystopian future in which a naive community of underground bunker inhabitants begin to question the state and history of the world outside their home.
“Slow Horses” – Composers: Daniel Pemberton and Toydrum
Episode: “Strange Games”
Toydrum duo Pablo Clements and James Griffith have received their first Emmy nomination alongside veteran contender Pemberton, who was recognized outside of this category for the 2017 “Black Mirror” chapter “USS Callister.” They have submitted the first episode of their British spy thriller’s well-received third season, during which the Slough House team investigate their office administrator’s sudden disappearance.
So, what will win the 2024 Emmy for Best Music for a Series? Considering the fact that 61% of all continuing series that have simultaneously competed for this award and Best Main Title Theme Music have lost both, “Shōgun” stands as a potentially vulnerable frontrunner. Nonetheless, its massive Gold Derby odds-based leads in both races (not to mention eight others) put it in a solid position to follow “Cosmos” (2014) as the second recipient of both prizes.
Past champ Ross shouldn’t have much difficulty fending off first-timer Toyne in both music contests, nor should Phipps pose a great threat in the composition category despite his potential to benefit from his farewell narrative. Since “Shōgun’s” engrossing score has been overwhelmingly cited as one of its strongest aspects, one can safely expect the Emmy voters to echo that praise.
PREDICT the Creative Arts Emmy winners through September 7
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